Personal Details
Name: Glenda Michelle Browne
Qualifications: B.Sc. (Hons); M.Sc in Biotechnology; Diploma of Information Management – Librarianship; Certificate 4 in E-learning
Strengths
Indexing, thesaurus and ontology skills: As a freelance indexer since 1988 I have indexed more than 250 books, 2,000 articles, the website of the Australian Society of Indexers (until 2001) and Online Currents (from 2004 to 2008). I have edited the Online Help index used internally at the NRMA, have created metadata for a number of websites and intranets including Austrade and NPS MedicineWise, and have consulted for the Dictionary of Sydney website project.
I adapted the Australian Health Thesaurus (AHT) managed by HealthDirect for use on the HealthStats NSW website. I assessed PoolParty and Mondeca ontology software. and implemented Mondeca ITM and CAM. I developed a new Population and Public Health thesaurus concept scheme, and adapted AHT content for HSNSW. I tested auto-tagging using Mondeca CAM, adapted the thesaurus to enhance tagging quality and created triples for use in populating web pages for diseases and risk factors.
I was the ANZSI representative on the IDPF EPUB Indexes Working Group, which devised a standard for the incorporation of active indexes into EPUB ebooks.
Editing skills: I have copy-edited exhibition catalogues on the Parramatta Female Factory, on Clay in Parramatta and on the Memory of Trees. I was on the editorial board of Online Currents journal, published by Thomson Reuters, and I have done preliminary editing of articles written for that journal.
Writing and speaking skills: I have spoken at all AusSI/ANZSI conferences and at meetings of ALIA, ASTC and the NSW Society of Editors. I have presented with an international team at indexing conferences in England and the United States. I represented ANZSI at the triennial indexing meeting in China in 2017.
With Jonathan Jermey I have written the books Website indexing: enhancing access to information within websites, published by Auslib Press in 2001 (2nd ed. 2004, now available as an ebook from this site and through Lulu and RMIT Informit e-library) and The Indexing Companion (Cambridge University Press, 2007). I have also written one chapter for a book called Touring Sydney, and contributed articles to a number of scientific and information management journals, especially Online Currents and The Indexer .
I edited the Australian Society of Indexers Newsletter from 1998 to 2000, was one of the guest editors of the April 2000 issue of The Indexer: the international journal of indexing and wrote the ‘Around the world’ section of The Indexer and ‘From the Literature’ for the ANZSI Newsletter. An article I wrote on indexing ‘The’ was written up in The Guardian and the Annals of improbable research and won the 2007 Ig Nobel Award for Literature. I have learnt French, Indonesian, Spanish and a bit of Chinese, and have used them at a basic level while travelling.
I wrote a chapter on indexing for the book Information Design edited by Ole Lund.
Teaching Skills: I taught adults at TAFE for many years, and children at my local school as a volunteer. I read regularly to a child in foster care through the Pyjama Angels organisation. I have trained users in library skills, and colleagues in indexing skills. I teach book indexing, website indexing and thesaurus/taxonomy construction through ANZSI, and have taught book indexing to editors at Macleay College and Macquarie University and EPUB for Editors for the Canberra Society of Editors. I have also taught a course on taxonomy construction through UTS, and courses in indexing, web indexing and thesaurus/taxonomy construction through ANZSI (and previously the University of NSW).
Information Management (Library) Skills. I have a Diploma in Information Management – Librarianship. Having managed a one-person library I have skills in a range of library areas including management, automation, reader services and technical areas. I have also worked specifically in acquisitions, reference and cataloguing. In a larger library I have taken responsibility for the ordering of standards and the writing, coordination and maintenance of procedure documents.
I have been on the reference committee for the OLT project, National Learning and Teaching Resource Audit and Classification, for research being done by Philip Hider from CSU.
Computing Skills: I have used a large number of computer programs on microcomputers and mainframes over the last 30 years. I have a PC with both Linux and Windows operating systems, and use MS-Office and SKY Index. I have basic Webpage development skills and some knowledge of XML. I have used MultiTes, PoolParty and Mondeca thesaurus management software.
Management and Administration Skills: As a freelance indexer I have been involved in quoting and budgeting. I schedule work, and complete it within the required timeframe. As a director of an information consultancy company I have managed business details such as tax, payroll and superannuation. As a director, and also as President of Euroka Children’s Centre Management Committee and the Australian and New Zealand Society of Indexers, I have run meetings, and ensured that goals have been met. As a librarian I have managed a one-person library and supervised casual and volunteer staff. I was administrator and treasurer for the 2003 AusSI NSW Branch conference, ‘Indexing the World of Information’.
Work Experience
2018 to present: Semantics Knowledge Analyst for Ministry of Health. Project analysis, identifying semantic requirements, assessing software, adapting and creating information management thesauruses and ontologies; implementation of semantic software; team work for project development; consulting on website development for clear navigation and information access.
1988 to present: Freelance indexer of books, journals, databases, websites, intranets and online help. Teacher of indexing, website indexing, EPUB for editors and thesaurus construction, and writer on indexing-related topics (including 3 books).
1993 to 2018 (on and off): Medical librarian at Tresillian (Petersham), Westmead Hospital, Auburn and St Joseph’s Hospitals, and Exerpta Medica Communications. Tasks include cataloguing, reader education, reference and online searching. Relief positions as required, and permanent part-time at Westmead where I was responsible for cataloguing, ordering of standards and maintenance of procedure documents.
2007 to 10 (on and off): Consultant indexer for National Prescribing Service, creating a thesaurus and a metadata schema, training other indexers, and applying metadata to many webpages.
2007 to 2013 (on and off): Consultant information professional for Austrade (through Information Solutions) creating taxonomies and an industry classification scheme. Consultant for Dictionary of Sydney on the creation of terms for optimal information retrieval.
Feb 1991 to April 1998: Part-time teacher of Library and Information Studies at Mt Druitt College of TAFE (Technical and Further Education). I taught a number of subjects at all stages, including cataloguing, computing, and lending services.
July 1989 to Feb 1992: Sole librarian at Blacktown Hospital. As well as doing all general library tasks I introduced ABN, Medline and other databases (online, and later on CD-ROM), automated the catalogue using URICA (now Spydus, networked with Westmead Hospital), redecorated the library, prepared the budget, and edited and jointly founded the hospital newsletter. I supervised fieldwork students, a volunteer, and two casual cataloguing staff.
Mar 1989 to June 1989: Part-time temporary Orders Librarian at TAFE Library Services.
1982 to 1988: Part-time Honours student, part-time Technical Officer and later Professional Officer, School of Biotechnology, University of New South Wales. Backpacked around Europe and North America for a year in 1984.
Education and Awards
2010: My index to The Indexing Companion was Highly Commended in the ANZSI Medal awards.
2001: Completed the UTS Certificate IV in eLearning.
1997: Awarded accreditation of 2 unspecified subjects in Bachelor of Adult Education (UWS) for practical and essay work relating to the course ‘An orientation to working and teaching in TAFE’.
1988: Diploma of Information Management – Librarianship, University of NSW.
1986-1988: Master of Science in Biotechnology, University of NSW.
1978-1983: Bachelor of Science (Honours Class 1) majoring in Biochemistry and Microbiology, with Honours in Biotechnology, University of NSW. I shared the Mauri Brothers and Thompson prize for the best Honours result in Biotechnology.
1996: My index to the book Pharmacology and Drug Information for Nurses was Highly Commended in the AUSSI Index medal awards.
Memberships and Conferences
I am an associate (professional) member of ALIA (Australian Library and Information Association). I am an accredited member of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Indexers and a member of the NSW Society of Editors the Australian Society of Authors. I was a founding committee member of the New South Wales branch of ANZSI (then AusSI) in 1989, was Treasurer for four years, and have been President. I was President of the ANZSI Council from 2013 to 2015. In this time we moved to a multilocation Council meeting by teleconference, and the membership voted unanimously to restructure the society, dissolving branches and replacing them with informal groups. From 1998 to 2000 I edited the Australian Society of Indexers Newsletter.
I have attended a number of conferences including LAA (1988); IFLA (1988); Health Libraries (1989); Specials, Law and Health Libraries (1991); ALIA (1990, 1992, 2002); Information Online (2007, 20111), VALA (2014), Law via the Internet (2015) and AusSI/ANZSI (1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015 (WEI – jointly with IPEd)). I was administrator for the 2003 ANZSI conference and on the conference committee for the 2007 conference.
I presented a paper on Quoting for Indexing Work at the AusSI Indexing conference in 1995, one on Automatic Indexing and Abstracting at the AUSSI Indexing workshop in Robertson in 1996, and one on the Index-L Internet Discussion Group at the AUSSI Indexing conference in Katoomba in 1997 and talked about Freelance Indexing. I am currently nce Business Issues at the AusSI conference in Tasmania in August 1999. At the Indexers’ and Editor’s conference in Canberra in April 2001 I spoke on Working Efficiently, and presented a workshop on website indexing with HTML Indexer and at the 2003 AusSI conference I presented a plenary session on ‘Indexing the Future of Information’. At the 2005 ANZSI conference in Melbourne I spoke on Evidence-based indexing, and at the 2007 conference spoke on Consensus-based indexing. I also presented at the 2009 and 2011 ANZSI conferences and spoke at the 2013 and 2015 ANZSI conferences and at the 2015 SI conference in England about ebook indexing and the EPUB standard.
I spoke at an ASTC conference about metadata and indexing and spoke at the OpenPublish 2006, 2007 and 2008 conferences on indexing, at the inaugural Oz-IA information architecture conference about website indexing, at Information Online in Jan/Feb 2007 on convergence in indexing and other information professions, and at the ALLA (Australian Law Librarians Association) conference in September 2007 on indexing and taxonomies.
I was the President of Euroka Children’s Day Care Centre Management Committee in 1995/1996. Duties include chairing meetings, hiring and appraising staff, fulfilling the legal requirements of the centre, and policy development and was membership secretary and secretary at Penrith High School P&C for a number of years.
Referees
Available on request.